


We two alone will sing

by hereticalvision



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Community: hp_darkfest, Dark, Ensemble Cast, First War with Voldemort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-28
Updated: 2011-07-28
Packaged: 2017-10-21 21:52:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hereticalvision/pseuds/hereticalvision
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sirius is arrested, Andromeda refuses to believe that the cousin she saw stand up to their family could ever have been a follower of Voldemort.  But with everyone scrambling to save their loved ones, who will be believed?</p><p>(Includes torture through use of magic, and coerced sexual situations)</p>
            </blockquote>





	We two alone will sing

_Come, let's away to prison;  
We two alone will sing like birds I' th' cage_  
King Lear (V, iii, 6-8)

 

Of course he bloody laughed. The only thing he could think was, _well played, Wormtail._

Sirius wasn't stupid, but it still took him a moment to understand what was happening when Peter Pettigrew started shouting at him for selling James and Lily out to Voldemort. He hadn't caught on quickly enough to react, really, hadn't managed to break the petrification quite fast enough and before he knew what was happening the world around him was flames and heat and the rat had disappeared. Sirius' rage dragged a vicious growl from his throat, and without another thought he was firing _Reducto_ at everything that moved, everything small and sneaky-looking. Everything that could be the rat.

So when the Aurors came they found Sirius Black surrounded by corpses and fire and shooting curses out into the night. He imagined how this must look to them, how _he_ must look to them, and the laughter rose unbidden, the terrible force of it bringing tears to his eyes, driving him to his knees. The Aurors shot jinxes at him and picked him up in disgust. "Shut him up!" one of them snapped, but even as he registered the pain of someone punching him hard enough to break teeth Sirius still heard the terrible, cracked sounds pouring out of him.

No one would ever, ever believe him. Well played, Wormtail, well played indeed.

 

~oOo~

 

Andromeda swallowed hard and shook her head at her husband. "No," she said, voice quavering. "No, it's not true."

Ted wrapped his arm around her, tucking a leg beneath him as he sat on top of the bed while she still reclined beneath the covers. He kissed the top of her head and said gently, "We know it's true that Voldemort's gone."

They did know that. There had been parties in the streets last week when the news got out, total strangers hugging one another, giddy on the relief of feeling something other than fear for the first time in years. Andromeda herself had squealed with joy in the way her mother had always loathed and Ted had always loved and thrown her arms and legs around her husband. She'd thrown her head back, laughing, as Ted picked her up and spun her round and kissed her until she'd flashed him a grin he hadn't seen since those first few reckless months when she would drag him into dirty classrooms and urge him on because her sisters might chance upon them any minute. He'd always been a slave for that grin and now here it was again and he might have been embarrassed by the fumbling just off Diagon Alley with a notice-me-not charm around them except that other couples that day hadn't even bothered with the charm.

And now the _Daily Prophet_ was full of Sirius Black's role in handing over the Potters.

"He would never," Andromeda went on earnestly. "Of all of them – all of _us_ ," she corrected herself, "he was the one who knew that what our parents had taught us was wrong. He always knew." She darted an apologetic look at Ted's face. "I had to meet you to learn that."

Ted kissed the top of her head again. The first years they'd known each other, when she'd called him _Mudblood_ and laughed at him along with her sisters had long since faded for him, but he knew that once in a while Andromeda herself would remember and hate herself for it.

"Do you think you can help him?" Ted asked.

"I have to try," Andromeda replied, and Ted held on and breathed her in.

 

~oOo~

 

The screaming had long since lost any emotion. There was no sense any more of pain or anger or fear, nothing human left in the sound which stuttered on and on like an alarm spell left unheeded.

Bellatrix was a master at Cruciatus, of course. She could play up and down the nerves like no one else, elicit any sound you cared to ask for. Sobs, screams, pleas, whines, she knew just precisely how to control the spell and she could tailor it to her every victim, instinctive as breathing.

But looking at her now, Barty knew she'd lost control.

"Where is he?" she spat again as Alice Longbottom jerked and writhed on the floor. The staccato scream was expelled every time a certain part of her back hit the floor, rote and rusty. Barty could see that the woman had stopped foaming at the mouth long ago, had stopped begging. There had been a litany before - _Frank, please, Neville, no, I don't know anything, I don't know anything, I don't know anything…_

And Barty was terrified. If it was true – if the Dark Lord had truly fallen –

There had been parties in the streets while the Death Eaters cowered. Rodolphus had been captured already and Bellatrix couldn't continue without an audience. Her favourite was the Dark Lord of course, but Rodolphus was a close second, or Rabastan would do. Barty was something of a last-choice substitute. He was loyal and cold, but he did not derive pleasure from torture the way Bellatrix did. He wouldn't drag her off and fuck her the way Rodolphus would, he wouldn't correct or applaud her as the Dark Lord would. He instead would do exactly as he was currently doing – standing, white-faced, trying not to breathe in the scent of the Longbottom woman's urine. If the Dark Lord had fallen – if the faithful had all been captured -

" _Where is he?_ " Bellatrix screamed again, and Barty flinched. She had always been manic and gleeful and sadistic, that was normal. The rising edge of hysteria was not. Bellatrix's voice suddenly held a tone that crept inside of Barty's mind, terrifying him in the way that the animal cries of the blood traitor tortured past endurance could not. Bellatrix was afraid.

 

~oOo~

 

Andromeda felt like screaming. She had told her story already to three red-robed stone-faced men and now she was going through it for the fourth time. "Look, I know you said it looks bad, I'm just asking why there can't be a trial? If you're so sure he's guilty? Why is no one allowed to see him? I just want to know what is going on!"

The Auror Dawlish looked her up and down in that particular way that made her skin crawl. He nodded slowly. "You seem awfully interested in this cousin of yours."

Andromeda stood her ground. "I know him."

"Bet Potter thought so too," Dawlish scoffed. "And your sisters?"

"Bella became a Death Eater, I know-" Andromeda began.

" _Bella_ tortured more than a dozen people into insanity," Dawlish spat at her. "And now your other sister – what do you call her, _Cissy_ perhaps – is in there claiming that she and her husband were subjected to the Imperius Curse when we all know damned fine that's a lie. But he's got money and she's got a baby, so they'll probably get away with it." The way he looked at Andromeda was making her stomach churn; it was hatred and fury and just a sprinkling of lust, which made the whole thing much more frightening. "They're all in trouble except you," Dawlish went on, "and why are you here? To get him out of jail."

Andromeda swallowed hard, abruptly realising that she might be in danger here. "He hasn't had a trial. That's all. I just want him to have a trial, so that…"

Dawlish sneered at her again. "Mr Crouch doesn’t believe in trials for scum like him. And now it looks like we might have an accomplice here."

Dawlish's eyes positively gleamed when he said, "Take her for questioning."

 

~oOo~

 

Narcissa held Draco against her chest deliberately, feeling him squirm, willing him to shriek. The secretary at the desk was looking at her with a vicious loathing, but she kept her expression open, letting the naked pleading show on her face

"I just want to see my husband," she whispered again, low. "I just want to see Cornelius and ask him for help."

The secretary's eyes flashed menace again. "After what your cousin did?"

Narcissa never would have thought Sirius had it in him. "I know. I know that Cornelius was there, that he saw what Sirius…" she swallowed, an expression of genuine-looking anguish crossing her face.

The secretary might have held Narcissa up forever, but Cornelius himself walked into the office just then. Startled to see her, he nonetheless took only a moment before greeting her, "Dear Narcissa!"

"Cornelius," she said with a relief she did not have to feign. As a Junior Minister, Fudge was not their best connection, not at all, but his star was rising in the wake of his capturing Sirius. Narcissa remembered her cousin and marvelled at how wrong she had been.

"Terrible business," Cornelius said, shaking his head. And then he was inviting her into his office, and Narcissa followed him, Draco clutched in her arms.

Narcissa had planned what she was going to say, what she was going to offer. She had not anticipated that Cornelius would be the one to do most of the talking, though bringing Draco had clearly had the desired effect. Cornelius was only too happy to use his influence to ensure Lucius' release. Such a man, such a fine family, such a fine wife…

"You're such a beautiful woman, Narcissa," Fudge breathed and Narcissa stilled.

Oh.

Narcissa turned wide, lovely eyes back to meet Fudge's. Then she gently laid Draco down on the empty chair next to her, whispering one incantation to keep him safe and another to make him sleep.

Only then did she turn to Fudge. "Cornelius," she said softly, walking around his desk. "Cornelius, please."

Bribery was much more to be trusted than pity, after all, Narcissa knew. He wanted to what – comfort her? debase her? Very well, he would. And Lucius would come back to her and Draco would know his father. They would rebuild their family.

And so she sank to her knees in front of the idiot Junior Minister, letting tears fill her eyes as she knew he wanted. She let him slide his robes up and trousers open, and guide her hand onto his own as he stroked their mingled fingers back and forth. _I could make this so much better for you_ , she thought idly, _but I won't._

He grunted. She focused on the goal.

"Open your mouth," he said suddenly, and Narcissa looked up, shocked. No, she wouldn't do that. No, not that. So with an abrupt motion she twisted her hand as it came over his cock, adjusted the pressure, made it better for him so he wouldn't feel the need to take that next step… And with a hot splash on her face, it was over.

The thing about being a Black, Narcissa mused, was that even on your knees covered in the cum of a man you despised, you still knew that eventually, you were going to win.

 

~oOo~

 

Andromeda had never been naïve. She had never thought it would be possible to have her family and Ted both. She had never thought she could go back after she made the choice. That made it easier, understanding their complete lack of love for her. She knew how the political system worked – rife with bribery and people who believed things they'd swear were immoral rubbish in court.

Andromeda was not naïve. But she had not fully believed that the privilege that had always been hers by right was dead and gone until this moment.

One Auror had shoved her into the chair, the other had incanted, " _Incarcerous!_ " One had yanked her hair back, the other had poured Veritaserum down her throat. And then the questioning began.

Why did you marry the Muggleborn? Was it a cover-up? How did you never notice that your sister was a Death Eater? Why didn't you know your cousin Regulus was murdered? Where is your sister Bellatrix now? What will we find if we raid Malfoy Manor? What will we find if we raid your home? What will we find if we look into your past? What will we find, what will we find…

And the Veritaserum tearing it all out of her. All of her love and hate, her fear throughout her teenage years. The paralysing joy of Nyphadora's birth and the equally paralysing terror of knowing that Bellatrix would murder her and think herself doing Andromeda a favour. Not knowing how to answer Nymphadora's question, "Why don't I have grandparents, Mummy?" Not knowing who to trust when the fighting broke out. Hiding because she was too afraid to draw attention to herself, too afraid to speak up. Too scared to join the resistance – and everyone knew there had been one. Too scared of losing her daughter, losing her husband, dying herself and leaving them behind… Andromeda sat, bound, hearing all the petty things about herself spill out from her lips.

And then they went one better. " _Legilimens!_ "

Nymphadora's first bruise. The tears Andromeda wept leaving her parents' house for the last time. _STOP_. The memory of Bella's dark, dangerous smile before a childhood prank. Her envy of Cissy's beauty. _STOP_. Her odd incestuous crush on Sirius long dead but still shameful. The way _STOP_ Ted made her feel _STOP_ when he yanked her knees apart with his eyes burning _PLEASE STOP_.

And all at once her mind was her own again. Andromeda met the eyes of the Auror who'd cast the spell, imagining she'd find them knowing and pleased. Instead they were cold and disinterested, and Andromeda felt the restraints release just as she began to retch.

They couldn't have violated her more thoroughly if they had pinned her down and raped her.

 

~oOo~

 

Sirius swallowed hard. No trial, he'd been told. Straight to Azkaban as soon as they had a group of prisoners together. Bellatrix was in the cell opposite his, bruised and bloody and chanting that the Aurors could beat her all they wanted, she'd be fine, the Dark Lord would return and raise her up again.

"Crazy bitch," he said to himself.

Bellatrix laughed.

"What could possibly be funny?" Sirius said. "We're going to Azkaban, both of us."

"Do you really not see, cousin?" Bellatrix said.

"What?" Sirius demanded, but Bellatrix had already turned away.

 _I could tell you,_ supplied the voice in Sirius' head. _It's that you turned your back on all of us and ended up in the next cell anyway._

That he was now hearing voices on top of everything else might have made Sirius laugh again, except for one thing. "Reggie?" he whispered. "Regulus is that you?"

But, no his brother was dead, dead because Sirius hadn't been able to make him understand, make him turn away from the Death Eaters. Sirius had failed him and Reggie had died and now Sirius couldn’t even save himself.

Sometimes Sirius remembered how Regulus had been when they'd been younger – always a nuisance, always tagging along, always telling on him whenever he did anything "dangerous". But still, his brother, present and necessary as air and, for the most part, just as unnoticed.

 _I think it's hilarious,_ said a silky voice that made Sirius' hackles rise. _Always so superior, always so arrogant and now who's going to Azkaban?_

Sirius snarled from deep in his throat, a sound that would have done Padfoot proud. He tried not to imagine tearing out Snivellus' throat, tried not to wish for Remus. He pushed his hands into his forehead and tried to remember the heat and urgency of losing himself deep in Remus' body.

 _They'll take me away from you, you know,_ said Remus sadly. _The Dementors will take everything about me away._

The memories poured through him: Remus' fingers, the scent of his throat, the texture of his skin, the timbre of his voice, the feeling of the hair on his chest catching Sirius' nipples, the high keen of his impending orgasm – Sirius let it all wash over him and told himself and the Remus in his mind, _I'll never let them have you_. But the words were no comfort; Sirius knew they were only words.

Bellatrix smiled at him as he raised his hands. "Do you see now?" And Sirius didn't know if she had done it to him or if they were bound in their inevitable madness, but he knew that she'd seen everything he had.

"But I'm innocent," Sirius whimpered, tears of self-pity rising for the first, but not the last time. "I'm innocent."

The words taunted him.

 

~oOo~

 

Andromeda was finally released eighteen hours after first being taken for questioning. The Aurors were finally satisfied that she had never been a Death Eater, never assisted her sisters, never murdered anyone. Dawlish had been disappointed, she knew. Doubly so when Lucius Malfoy was led out and into the arms of Narcissa, who never looked at Andromeda once, instead running to her husband in a rare unguarded display and holding him. Andromeda always thought of Lucius as cold and aloof, but looking at him now, letting Narcissa hold him and slowly putting his arms around her in return - not reluctantly, but as though he couldn't quite believe she was there… And for a moment they weren't the enemy, weren't the perfect couple, were just husband and wife, together in a moment of weakness, each drawing strength from the other.

Then they turned towards the door and Narcissa's eyes slid right past Andromeda, and the stiff-backed hatred flared inside her again.

Lucius was guilty as sin and Narcissa got him out, Andromeda thought grimly. I'm innocent and I _know_ Sirius is, and I'm lucky not to be in there with him.

Ted was waiting for her outside, and wrapped his own arms around her, tight. "What the hell happened?" he asked. "They said they were questioning you…"

"They were," Andromeda said. "They didn't believe that I just wanted to see him. What kind of people," she said, turning to face Ted fully, "what kind of people interrogate someone for almost a full day, just for wanting to see a prisoner?"

"Did they hurt you?" Ted asked, his voice hardening.

Andromeda tried to imagine conveying to Ted the awful helplessness, the brutal exposure of having everything you never wanted another human being to know about you pulled out and picked over like herbology specimens.

"I'm OK," was all she said. "Just, please, get me home."

Ted obviously wanted to say something more, but with his arms wrapped around her securely, he instead Apparated them both home.

Ted was about to open the door when a voice from the shadows said abruptly, "Did you see him?"

Ted and Andromeda both spun around, instantly, wands levelled. Andromeda might have been proud if she hadn't been panicking.

From the shadows, out stepped Remus Lupin.

"Who was your first kiss?" Ted demanded.

A smile barely worthy of the name flashed across Remus' face. "Marlene Mackinnon."

Andromeda dropped her wand immediately and crossed over to him. "Remus, Merlin's beard, are you…"

She made to hug him and he flinched away. "Did you see him?" he said again. "I know you went there."

Andromeda shook her head. "No."

"Why not?" Remus said, the same flat tone, the same expressionless eyes.

"They wouldn't let me near him."

Remus nodded to himself.

Ted cleared his throat. "I know he was your best friend," he said.

"You don't know," Remus replied, a flat statement of fact.

"I know he didn't do it," Andromeda said. "Remus, you must know –"

"He was their secret keeper, Andromeda," Remus said, looking at her at last. "That's pretty conclusive evidence that it was him. And then there was the part where they caught him in the act killing Peter. Poor dumb little Peter, would have done anything for Sirius." A harsh laugh. "Certainly tried to often enough."

Ted caught Andromeda's eye, uneasy. They had assumed the danger was over when Remus confirmed it was really him, but he'd been through hell in the last week. Perhaps they should be _more_ afraid.

"I wondered if he'd tell you why," Remus said. "But I suppose he didn't get the chance."

"If you think he did it," said Andromeda, "you must have an idea why."

"Not what I mean," Remus said, turning away carelessly.

"Then what do you mean?" Ted asked, relaxing slightly as Remus seemed ready to leave.

"Why he left me alive," Remus said, dead eyes looking at Andromeda over his shoulder. "Why he hated me so much that he would kill everyone I loved and leave me alive."

Andromeda's hand was over her mouth before she could stop herself, pressing the knuckles hard into her lip and biting down. Remus' expression was absolutely blank. It was as though what had happened had reached its way inside and hollowed everything out of him.

Remus turned away again and began to walk.

"Remus," Andromeda said, trying to force the words past her lips but managing only a croak. And then abruptly, "REMUS!" – a scream wrenched out, desperate somehow to reach someone she could see all too well had already gone.

"Andy," Ted was saying, pulling her into his arms even as she tried to fight him, "Andy."

"REMUS," she screamed again, but Lupin gave no sign that he had heard.

 

~oOo~

 

That night, Bellatrix whispered taunts about his bastard half-blood lover through the cell to Sirius. Sirius imagined what Remus must think of him, what he had thought before Peter showed himself to be the spy, what noises Remus made spread out below him. Over and over Sirius had these thoughts, and wept while Bellatrix smiled.

Narcissa took her husband and son home. She gave Draco into the care of their house-elves, and she took her husband to bed, touching him to erase Fudge from her fingertips. "I love you," Lucius whispered, and Narcissa held on tighter.

Andromeda allowed Ted to lead her back inside the house they shared. Nymphadora was in bed, mercifully, because the sight of Andromeda sobbing would most likely have terrified her. But Andromeda couldn't stop. All she could do was cry, for the things that had been done to her, for what was happening to Sirius, and for broken, lonely Remus Lupin who, it seemed, could not even cry for himself.

~fin.


End file.
